“Congratulations to Meg Heap on a well-deserved award. She genuinely cares about the people she represents. Enjoy it while you can, Savannah. I’m sure it won’t be long until Meg is on to bigger and better things.”

Black History Month is an annual celebration to emphasize the history and achievements of African Americans. Including the history of all people is important year-round, but Black History Month offers an opportunity to focus on aspects of history that are sometimes overlooked.

In the spirit of the Olympics, it has long been clear who takes the gold medal for worst performer in the White House. (Hint: his office has no corners.) Now, it’s time to award the silver medal to an unexpected choice: White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

In the spirit of the Olympics, it has long been clear who takes the gold medal for worst performer in the White House. (Hint: his office has no corners.) Now, it’s time to award the silver medal to an unexpected choice: White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.

Located in the Thomas Square Streetcar neighborhood, the Starland District is one of the Savannah’s fastest growing areas. Home to local art galleries, technology startups and designers, there’s no shortage of creativity.

It was that spirit and sense of community that attracted Savannah-based Foram Group to the area last year with plans to develop a $40 million live, work, play community known as Starland Village at Bull and 38th streets.

“It’s truly a creative product that we’re trying to develop. It not like anything that’s been developed here before,” said Travis Stringer, president of Foram Group.

Originally founded in Atlanta in the late 1970s, Foram is a real estate asset management company specializing in property development, acquisition, management and leasing. The company has owned and managed property in the area for about 20 years.

The development, which will be spread across three lots that include the former New Covenant United Methodist Church and the lot to the north previously owed by the City of Savannah, is expected to cover roughly 130,000 square feet.

The company searched for over a year for a site and first decided on an acre of land near Montgomery and 41st Street, the church property was on and off the market and not on the company’s radar at the time, Stringer said.

“We spent about seven or eight months and we got down to the bottom of (the Montgomery Street property) and we looked at tearing down some of the properties, keeping the more historic ones and repurposing them. We had empty lots we could build on and work it all in together for a really cool mixture of new and old,” he said.

“… We worked on that and then it kind of came down to the point that we couldn’t come to an agreement on the price value of the property, so we ended up having to pass. After that we knew that the (church) property was on and off the market and wasn’t really a focus of ours, but we decided to change our focus.”

Live, work, play

After meeting with church officials and touring the space the group closed on the church property last summer. Built in 1912 ,the church features natural acoustics, which helped cement its place in the development as an events venue, Stringer said.

“I really fell in love with that building and that’s the reason we got so interested in it,” he said.

“… When you stand there and speak, there are these beautiful acoustics that take place because it was designed in 1912 and in 1912 they didn’t have microphones, so they had to build it where someone could stand on stage and their voice gets projected.”

Along with needing at least two years to move and find another sanctuary the church also wanted to see a community-oriented development on the site.

“They felt like the history of the church had always been so community oriented and utilized by the residents in the neighborhood that they wanted to see some type of redevelopment that would do that they didn’t just want to see 150 apartments go up and a couple restaurants,” Stringer said.

The church found a new location about a month after the property was put under contract, so the group shifted gears again and started thinking about plans a lot sooner than they had originally intended.

“We put our development hats on and transitioned from buying and holding for two years to reinvigorating this property now,” he said, adding that he hopes the space will fill the void between large and small venues while still providing an intimate experience.

The group is also hoping to open the space to regional events like TEDx, the Savannah philharmonic, the Savannah Music Festival and Geekend.

The second and third floors of the church’s former school building will be transformed into co-working office spaces providing a central place for startups and the creative community from across Savannah. The school’s ground floor, which is already equipped with a commercial kitchen, will house a restaurant and retail spaces.

“We recognized through community conversations that (local retailers) couldn’t afford the rent that exists on Broughton Street because of the development and tenants being brought in,” he said.

“… We decided we could build something that was cost effective and could deliver rents that they could afford, but create a community around them that would help bolster them.”

A new building will be constructed to the south of the existing school building, which will feature apartments and retail spaces. The alley way between the buildings will provide a unique opportunity for about 10 artist spaces, Stringer said.

“We did some research and found that it would be perfect for what we’re calling our artist alley. We will line it with artist studio spaces and do roll up doors, so that they can have the space as their own, but also open as a gallery space,” he said.

The property also includes a parking lot behind the church that borders Whitaker Street, which they originally planned to use to house the residential component of the project, but after working with the Metropolitan Planning Commission and assessing the height and density those plans changed, too.

“It just came down to the standpoint where it wasn’t going to be accepted and we couldn’t do it in a creative way that wouldn’t hinder Whitaker and get the units that we needed, so we deiced to scrap it,” he said.

Around this time the City of Savannah property across 38th Street to the north was put up for sale and the group decided to submit their bid of $687,000 to the city, which was accepted last fall.

“We were already heavily invested in the neighborhood before we even got the city property,” he said.

Now a second portion of the development’s residential units will be constructed on that lot along with a parking structure that has also undergone extensive design changes. A similar second parking structure will be constructed on the surface lot on Whitaker Street.

After realizing a traditional parking garage with 154 spaces would cost about $37,000 per space and push the structure to an undesirable height, Stringer found California-based CityLift Parking and came up with a new solution, lift-system structures.

Depending on the system, drivers will use a kiosk or key fob to communicate with the lift system which will park and retrieve cars. By using a CityLift system the cost per space was cut to about $13,000 and allowed the height to be reduced, since the structure is more compact.

“The average delivery time for a two-and-three story system, which is about seven feet per floor, is about 20 to 30 seconds,” he said, adding that the company is working on an app and is able to track the workings of the system and be on-site within two-days should any mechanical problems arise.

Neighborhood concerns

The large-scale development has drawn both concern and excitement from area residents, according to Thomas Square Historic Neighborhood Association president, Clinton Ediminster. While the group hasn’t taken an official stance on the project, they have tried to act as facilitators to inform members and neighbors about the project while finding a way to address their biggest concerns, parking.

Ediminster said the residents aren’t so concerned about the parking that will accompany the residential units since they will have dedicated spaces, but more about parking for those visiting the retail, restaurant and event venue.

“Overall, I think people are excited about energy moving into the neighborhood. People want to see developments that bring together mixed uses that are thoughtfully considerate of what the current environment already holds,” he said.

Ediminster said parking is likely to remain a concern in the neighborhood with or without this project, but the key is to be open to constructive conversation. Working from those conversations the Foram Group has confirmed a partnership with Chatham Area Transit’s bike sharing program as well as the dot Express Shuttle and pedicab companies to expand routes south of Forsyth Park.

“Instead of saying no, no, no because of parking we have to say yes and then work together with the development folks, the city and ourselves as residents to try and find some sort of solution that allows for all this to work together,” Ediminster said.

“There are practical solutions for it, I think it’s just having the open mindedness to do that and being OK with change. The only constant in life is change and if you want to stay in the Starland district as it remains today that is not a reality.”

As with almost any project in Savannah, structure height has also been a concern for residents.

On Tuesday the Foram Group will present a petition to the Metropolitan Planning Commission to rezone the parcels from Traditional Commercial – Neighborhood to Traditional Commercial – Mixed Use Development. The current zoning allows for a maximum building height of three stories or 45-feet, the proposed zoning would push that to five stories or 60-feet.

“We want to zone the property to allow for the unique uses and make it as site specific as possible; we don’t want to set precedence that would allow any project to (do this),” Stringer said of the project which at its tallest will be 55 to 56 feet, reduced from 65 feet.

The height change also accompanies several other changes made the plan after hearing from residents, including moving a planned rooftop park from the commercial building to the parking structure, removing an atrium along Bull Street, reducing the number of office spaces and adding a larger variation of residential floor plans.

“We took all those comments and looked at them and see how we can make some changes to the project without hindering, delaying the project or spending too much money,” Stringer said.

Tuesday’s MPC meeting will be a big step for the project, but Stringer said pending all city approvals the group is ready to get started as soon as possible.

“We don’t want to change the neighborhood and our property is unique in the fact that it has historic buildings and empty lots that can be redeveloped, so not only the site, but the type of project makes it unique to allow these things,” he said, adding that the group is also working with the Savannah Tree Foundation to protect and preserve the Live Oak trees along the property, which is of utmost importance to the group.

Ediminster said the height reduction fits better with the scale of the existing church buildings and the group is pleased with Foram Group’s receptiveness and willingness to amend aspects of the development.

“…Concerns have been brought up at meetings and they’ve been met and if they weren’t met they provided explanations as to why they might not be able to do something and that right there is the story of this project. That’s how I’d like to see developments move through this neighborhood, in conversation with us, so they don’t happen to us, they happen with the neighborhood,” he said.

“That requires learning both from a developers standpoint, where they have to learn how to work with us and that requires learning from our standpoint where we have to work with them and figure out ways to have better meetings that reach more people and get more folks to the table to have those conversations.”

The former New Covenant United Methodist Church sits at the intersection of Bull and East 38th streets on Friday. Savannah-based Foram Group plans to develop a $40 million live, work, play community known as Starland Village at Bull and 38th Streets. The development, which will be spread across three lots, includes the former New Covenant United Methodist Church and the lot to the north that was previously owed by the City of Savannah, is expected to cover roughly 130,000 square-feet. (Will Peebles/Savannah Morning News)

The former New Covenant United Methodist Church sits at the intersection of Bull and East 38th streets on Friday. Savannah-based Foram Group plans to develop a $40 million live, work, play community known as Starland Village at Bull and 38th Streets. The development, which will be spread across three lots, includes the former New Covenant United Methodist Church and the lot to the north that was previously owed by the City of Savannah, is expected to cover roughly 130,000 square-feet. (Will Peebles/Savannah Morning News)

Located in the Thomas Square Streetcar neighborhood, the Starland District is one of the Savannah’s fastest growing areas. Home to local art galleries, technology startups and designers, there’s no shortage of creativity.

The day is just beginning at Susie King Taylor Community School. Parents lead their little ones — some with hearts painted on their cheeks, others sporting pink and red ribbons woven in their braids for Valentine’s Day — through the heavy front doors of the 112-year-old red brick building on the corner of Bull and 34th streets.

Two teams of SCAD students recently walked away with top honors at Walt Disney Imagineering’s annual Imaginations Design Competition, providing a pleasant public relations opportunity for both the school and the Disney Corp.